System of cataloguing.



R. T. CLOSE.y

\ SYSTEM 0I' GATALOGUING.

APPLIOATION PIBBD JULY 21, 190e.

941,499. Patented Nov.3o,19o9.

l BAM WIP/DED," 0065 /"//\/7 Wwf/64H7' STEEL Bur-rg RICHARD T. CLOSE, 0F DUIiUTH, MINNESOTA.

sustenta or cn'ranoeuine.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov., 30, MBQ,

Application tiled. .'i'u'ly'21, 1906. Serial No. 327,133.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, RICHARD T. CLOSE, a citizen of the United' States, resident of Duluth, county .of St. Louis, and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful improvement in Systems of Cataloguing, of which the following is a specification, the principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which l have contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

My invention relates to improvements in systems of cataloguing, particularly in Systems of cataloguing articles of merchandise for the use of salesmen and buyers, manufactnrers and users.

[The object of the invention is to provide a system for designating articles` of merehandise that will be selfdndexing, that will be capable of indefinite expansion at any point, and that will present various other advantageous features to be later expatiated upon. v

Said invention consists of means herein after Ifully described and specifically set. forth in the claims` The annexed drawing and the following description set forth in detail certain means 'embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting but one of' various forms v in which the principle of the invention may be used.

ln said'anucxed drawingm-fthe figure represents a page of the catalogue as it would be arranged to list certain articles of hardware, the list shown being only vpartly filled in.

ln order to bring forth clearly the nature of my present invention, l propose to lirstof all indicate briefly several of the more common methodsl of cataloguing woods that up to this time have prevailed in llarge mercantile undertakings such as department stores, wholesale hardware firms, gene-ral mail orderhouses, and the like.

Theobjects sought in any such system are obviously .to render easy the finding of the illustration, description and price list of any desired article when given its number; tol

provide a different number or designation for absolut-ely every article, whereby confusion of one another is prevented; and to avoid as far as possible the. use of descriptive words in connection with the number of an article since words are apt to be insufli whatever' the total may be.

ciently and incorrectly written, not properly` read, and wrongly, understood.v

The simplest method of cataloguing is perhaps the consecutive numbering system, in which successive numbers are given to successive articles from 1 up to 10,000 or however, does not permit the expansion that ordinarily takes place in lines, Awithout destroying the straight continuity of numbers. Thus when new goods have to be inserted they inust either be designated by mixed numbers as 4999-1/4', 1/8 or 1/16, depending upon the number 0f articles, or else the alphabet must be called in play by calling successive insertions after 4999, 4999 A, 4999 B, 4999 C, etc. Still another way to get around the difficulty would be to extend the number at the point where the expansion was needed, thus 4999-1, 4999-2, 4999-3, etc. lVhen the foregoing means, singly or combined, have been exhausted it frequently becomes necessary to'add a distinguishing word to set apart different finishes, sizes, or grades of otherwise identical articles. A

lt can be readily seen that where the total list of articles is great the numbers will become unduly large; hence where, in the handling of the goods, Iseparate de artments have been organized, the expe ient has been utilized of employing a separate consecutive series of' numbers, such as has been described, for' each department, the par ticular department being indicated by ay pre fixed letter. This still further adds to the complexity of the system, and combinations sut-h as No. oetexaaeixseen/ixa eo, Queen Anne designs are not unusual where it is desired to indicate definitely the article wanted, its size, finish, qualit-y and design.

To avoid the use of fractions, literal suffixes and the like, it has been customary to allot 'wit-hin each consecutive series of numbers departmental or otherwise, all the numbers between certain limits,.e. g. 1 to 500, to

one line of goods, .and all bet-Ween certain other limits, e. g. 500 to 7 50, to anothervline of goods, there being in-each instance more numbers available than articles of merchandise. rlhe gaps thus left can then'be used as occasion arises, to furnish Whole numbers for the designation of additional articles when revision of the catalogue becomes necessary. Obviously the difficulty with this arrangement is that the gaps must be left This method, 4

at indefinite places, inasmuch as what the newy articles will be, for which room will unmodified form,'is thefact that itis 'not to the accompanying drawing.

self-indexingf f In other words, having a given sample. orfnumberin hand, it would require a prodigious `memory and long familiarity with: the stock to enable a clerk to recall the'exact pagev of the price list or `catalogueon which thedescription and price of the article lmaybe found. The only escape is to turn to the index, from which the approximate page can be determined,-pro vided thefiiidex be carefully constructed-, and then by more or. less lcafing over of nages the number and article may be located. Every Ibookin use in a warehouse will prove by its dilapidated index 4how true the above portrayal of conditions is.y i

' Theinannerin vwhich I propose to eliminatethe majorv portion of the foregoing difiiculties may befreadily explained, reference being had, for the sake of illustration,

In iny ,system of cataloguing,t he articles take as part of their designation that of the page on which they are listed, the individual articles of each list being distinguished among y themselvesfby theaddition of a further arbitrary character ,of such page designation.

Since thesuccessive pages of a book are univversally designated by; consecutive numbers,

usually 'expressed in Arabic numerals, a number will accordingly forni a part of the designation `of each article. The distinguishingcharacter will preferably be a letter ofthe, alph'abetfsuftixed to the common page number. Thus just as the number will denote the page on which the, article is. to be .foundso the literal sufiixdwill indicate in what partA of the listvshown on that page the particular article is described. Hence,

'on .theassumption that the number of the pageshown in the lfigure of the drawing is 158fevery.y oneof the articles, which are in this case *ball tipped, loose pin, wrought steel butts,v appearing on that page bears as .a-partofgits designation No. 158. As usual, Y

an illustrationof each" style or form of butt is given, accompanying .each offwliicli i. a list giving'the'- price of each ofthel several finishes and sizes of such style orform, In this particular instance,v it,I has been convenientv to show three different 'Y styles, t'o, getherwith the accompanying lists on page 158, namely the standard, light, and light lnarrow. The list has been actually illustrated in connection with the second of these only, since a single list will serve amply for the purposes of this description. It being desired to give each finish of each butt a separate designation, and there being three finishes of the standard style to be listed, the first of the light style will be given No. 158 D as shown. The following ones are No. 158 E, No. 158 F, No. 158 IL'NO. 158 I( and No. 158 L. The first of the series following, z'. c. of li'ght narrow butts would be given the number of the page and the next succeeding letter of the alphabet, or No. 158 M. Ordinarily I should dispense with the use of letters Gr, I, J, O, Q, U, Y and Z as being either too much like figures or else diflicult to write intelligibly. Nor will there be need, as a. rule, to employ more than twenty such distinguishing characters; in fact the usual liniit of articles on a page requiring separate designations is nearer ten than twenty. Should, however, the nuinber of items on a page be in excess of the number of letters thus available, such letters may be doubled up, as No. 158 AA, No. 158 BB, or even tripled, as No. 158 AAA, No. 158 BBB. Or, instead of doubling or tripling the letters, it may he found Isimpler in the case of an excessive iiuinber of iteins to4 have each letter followed by a figure, from 1 to 9, as No. 158111, No. 15S A2, etc. Thus suppose it were considered advisable to give a separate designation to each size in each of the finishes of light butts listed ou the sample page shown in the figure, instead to merely the separate finishes, tht` list might. he arranged as follows:-

No. 2x2in.

No, 3x3in.

No. size open, 2x2 in.

No. 158 EE 25x25 in. No.158 EEE- 3x3 in.

Etc. Etc.

Or, following the. second suggestion as to extending the system of designation tl'iefot lowing appearance would be presented :v-

IiiGn'r (289) PLANISHED FiNisims.

llrlz'n [Home Finis/L 25x23 in.

Oil

distinguishin arbitrary symbol, as asterisks or t .in the catal .knows that No. 158 F `causes 'Another .Way of using the doubled and tripled letter series for distinguishing characters would, be to run through the com plete alphabet 'singly rst, then doubly, etc.,

instead of grouping the single, double, and

iirst shown above. of course,'.that the characters may be otherthan letters or coni ina'tions of letters with figures, such as I have juste described. An

triple yletters together as It is also understood,

like, mightbe employed equally Well scifar as effecting a dlstinction between the artlcles on a given page is concerned; clearly, however,. letters of the alphabet have an ad.- vantagein that they, cientlynumerous for the `requirements of any page, and furthermore they have a well understood and familiar sequence that is of decided use in indicating at a glance where, on a p age, to look for the object sought.

While 1t is a matter of convenience to have the arbitrary pharacter, whatever it is, folage number, it may be employed as a preliiz J ust;i as Well asa sufiix, if found thus*v setforth the nature of my improve system it Aremains to. briefly describe the manner of its use and incidentally to indicate vwherein it is adapted to successfully fulfil the objects reviously delineated'. Un er `my system all tlie goods vdescribedin or catalogue wouldv be Havin numbered in fthe Way described and illus- 'trated in one'. practical form yin' the figure. as

The goods themselves being arrange i' almost always is the`V case, in the order of their value, size, or description, everything ue will followa' similar order. Hence, if a c erk it is not necessary to say Light butts or even Butts-he merely turns to page 158 of his catalogue and lruns down the list thereona pearing to the given letter; To find e stock on his shelves will then be an easy matter for as stated the same arrangement maintains here and by means of numbered placards or other prominent signs the'goods listed on 'any one page are. Ihere similarly set apart. YA `green hand can thus get out goods as fast as the man who now spends years' learning his stock arrangement and then is frequently nonplussed with new or unfamiliar goods. v If No. 1.58y H is out the clerk next closest in descri tion andA value, all without .the turning ofpa leaf or a reference to the index. I(lrders by wire are much'simplified, since, quantityy and catalogue number will in most instances make such orders perfectly definite. Not onlyr are telegraph codes y otherr are `ordinarily suffi-- has a call for Nogl H',-'

or No. 158 K are the.A

system of. cataloguing,

a great saving oftinle not only for yselling agent land buyer but also for price clerk, checker, claim agent, invoice examiner and sion tojindthe oods wanted, to verify quotations,- and to etect errors in pricin and pments. Not only is this system se findexin but it presents room for indefinitev possibility of expansion at any point in any list of the catalogue without disturbing the remainin lists. Thus to add in a revised edition o the catalogue ipage' shown one or tWo additional inishes o light butts i twil1 has been previously noted as earmg a numerical designation, and a list of articles of merchandise, each of said articles bearingthe numerical designation of the page on which the list appears, andan additionalarbitrary character. v i* comprisingA a bock made ,ep of pageseach bearing a numerical designation, and .alist of 'articles of merchandise', each article .of

ap ears and a thepalpllabet.,

consecutively beingap lied to successive articles in the-#lisa Signe -by 1ne,'this 16th day of July,1lli906.l RlGHARD T. CLOSE. Attested byl.

F. M. CoMsrocK, E. AL Moran.

such as mine, will be,appreciated afl/1d-eiiie'ctf ,indeed everyone aboutl a firm who has occabe merely necessary to utilize any one of the the insert wherever desired; and if, as Will'` the attain,A

comprising a book madev upof pages each 2- Catalogue former'chandiseoithe like l said listbearing the numerical 'designation merchandise' or the like, pages bearing 4 

